#“Those were my brothers...how would you feel” -man whose brothers just died

[walk-to-gallows]

Supernatural episodes will be slapping you in the face with The Point, hammering The Point into your skull and using The Point to beat you into a bloody pulp; then—just to be sure that you get it—they tattoo The Point in bold letters on your forehead.

[mayese]

A flower for a flower

Joel Miller x f!reader

Synopsis: Joel can’t help but think of you every time he sees a blossoming flower.

Note: I wrote this in like, 15 minutes 😭 it’s so rushed and bad, I’m sorry. I just needed to write something sweet!! I’m probably rereading it again and trying to fix some things tho, but I hope you like it <3

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“What the fuck are you doing?” Ellie growls in annoyance as her horse starts to grow uneasy for being stopped for too long, mimicking the behavior of the girl.

Joel sighed, feeling his back hurt due to the fact that he was leaning, his knee on the ground. “Mind ya business,” he shot back, but Ellie snorted.

“It is my business! We’re supposed to be killing infected, not-“ Her words and tone slowly died as Joel got up with a grunt, turning around with a few flowers on his hand which he kept carefully while he straddled himself on his horse again.

He had seen those flowers the other day on patrol, giving him an idea. Joel knew how much you loved flowers, how many hours you kept yourself working on the greenhouse talking care of plants like they were kids or something that needed your devoted attention. And he can picture the green book filled with pictures and drawings about flowers, herbs and plants that you keep on your bedside table, a rare find you picked up on one of the few patrols you had made these months.

Without even glancing at Ellie he kicked his horse softly, whooshing trough the girl whose mouth hanged opened. “Let’s go,” he shouted, and Ellie was quick to follow him, her horse quick to catch them both ahead.

“Are those a bouquet?” She asked, curiosity winning over. Joel kept his frown, not answering her question. It was odd to see a man like Joel carry flowers with him, treating them kindly and not wanting to damage them, almost like protecting it.

They were beautiful, Ellie thought. Joel carried flowers with various colors, some yellow and others red and light pink. Different shapes and maybe different scents.

But Ellie knows Joel is not a flower guy. And she knows why Joel had them on his hand. You loved flowers. Ellie remembers seeing one book in your collection about plants and flowers, opening it and seeing so many scribbles on the pages, some with plucked flowers squished inside the pages.

Ellie glanced again at Joel and the flowers. “You know those are not enough for a bouquet right?”

Joel rolled his eyes. “Can you stop?” He growled.

“It was you who stopped to pick up those!” She said. “Are those for her?”

For a few moments he didn’t respond, and wasn’t for the almost non-existent nod she would think he didn’t answer. “Then I will help you out!”

“Help me- What are you-“ Joel looked at her, confused.

“Help you pick up more flowers. And then you give those to her!”

Needless to say, their patrol basically consisted on Ellie finding beautiful flowers and plants while Joel followed around, keeping an eye out for danger. And even if he didn’t like to admit it, searching and seeing so many different flowers was beautiful.

Once they’re out of Jackson, they’re supposed to be serious, attentive to every threat lurking around the corner, easily making everyone forget about the hidden secrets and simple things that anyone would enjoy. Something as simple as flowers, that despite the end of the world didn’t stop growing and flourishing.

Back at Jackson, Tommy grinned at Joel once the man handed the horse to the guy in charge of the stables for the day. Tommy teased his brother about the flowers while Ellie joined Tommy. Joel just scuffed, getting away from them as quickly as possible before making his way to your house.

Of course that they were few. A flower for a flower. The most beautiful and kind flower he had ever met. The person that had changed him for the better, that tried to accept him and learned to love him the way he was, as he did the same.

Seeing those beautiful flowers had made him think of you, wanting to pluck them and offer it to the most gorgeous person he had ever laid eyes upon, your sweet smile and your kind eyes. Every time you talk about flowers of that book of yours that you can’t have because the world is to dangerous out there for you to explore and see. It made him want to bring it to you.

He knocked on your door, shuffling around for a few seconds before you opened it, that damned smile that made him melt like butter appearing on your face after you noticed him. And before Joel could say anything, the bouquet behind his back, you pushed him by the collar, meeting him with your lips on his, clearly satisfied that he was safe and sound back to you, even if now things appeared to be calmer on the outskirts of Jackson.

“I missed you,” you murmured, almost glued to him with your faces mere inches away.

He chuckled, grabbing your waist with his spare hand. “It’s been 6 hours,” he teases you with a smile, and you sigh dramatically.

“Six long and excruciating hours without you,” you say with a huff, making Joel smile even more. And before you could add anything, Joel extended his other arm, finally revealing the many flowers he was holding on his other hand.

Your eyes traveled down at the sound, glancing at the beautiful bouquet he gathered with Ellie’s help before you were screeching with excitement, quick to detach yourself from Joel to look properly at the flowers.

“Are those for me?!” You asked enthusiastically, missing his chuckle while you ogled the flowers, mesmerized. You’ve never seen those.

“Is there anyone else here?”

He handed you the flowers, attached by a red string he had on his pocket which he purposefully had taken with him that morning. You grabbed them gently, looking in awe before glancing at Joel, whose eyes softened at the sight of you.

“Thank you, Joel. Nobody’s ever offered me flowers. And you know I’m crazy for them,” you said coyly before you kissed him again, making his thoughts mellow.

“And I’m crazy for you,” Joel murmured, making you smile against his lips before you kissed him again, gluing yourself to him but keeping his flowers away from harm.

[baleriontheblackkitten]

A Game of Thrones - Eddard I

And so the king's court comes to Winterfell.

Ned knew many of the riders. There came Ser Jaime Lannister with hair as bright as beaten gold, and there Sandor Clegane with his terrible burned face. The tall boy beside him could only be the crown prince, and that stunted little man behind them was surely the Imp, Tyrion Lannister.

It's kind of funny re-reading this passage, but it makes sense that most Starks and Lannisters hardly know each other at all at this point. It's the first time visiting the North for many of these people. You really feel the sense of how distant Winterfell is from everywhere else - no one ever goes there from the South, and the Starks hardly leave it either. Ned and Robert haven't seen each other since Balon's rebellion.

Something's off about the timeline. In Cat's first chapter, Ned says, "It will be good to see the children. The youngest was still sucking at the Lannister woman’s teat the last time I saw him," and Cat states Tommen is seven years old. Now Ned muses that it's been nine years since he last saw Robert, at Balon's rebellion. Why would Ned see Cersei and baby Tommen without Robert? Considering the queen and the kids have been traveling on a giant wheelhouse that doesn't even fit the castle gate, trained by forty horses - I doubt Cersei is the kind of person who would travel much with an infant. Unless she'd be going to Casterly Rock to have baby Tommen meet his grandfather, but why would Ned go there?

I mean, it's doesn't matter. We're just in the exposition stage. The funniest in-story explanation is that Ned and Cat were just mixing up babies in their memories and it wasn't baby Tommen they saw but baby Myrcella, in that case the timeline would work since Myrcella would be of breastfeeding age nine years ago. I'll just accept that.

Anyway. Ned is taken aback by how much Robert has changed, no longer built like a warrior, but a fat man that smells of perfume instead of blood.

So many of Ned's memories are tied to the smell of blood. He remembers Robert as smelling of leather and blood, he remembers the room Lyanna died in as smelling of roses and blood. He's a man whose past is filled with the scent of blood, that he can still smell with his memory. It's easy to point the finger at Ned's mistakes, but this is a man traumatized to the seven hells and back who uses defensive mechanisms (like the rose-tinted glasses he looks at Robert through) that progressively crumble leaving him undefended.

(It's also interesting how wolves are often described as smelling blood, and the Starks who warg into wolves, Bran and Arya, often mention the smell of blood in their noses. Something about a circle of violence, blood spilled that calls for more blood and whose scent fills the nostrils of the younger generation.)

Speaking of Lyanna.

No sooner had those formalities of greeting been completed than the king had said to his host, “Take me down to your crypt, Eddard. I would pay my respects.” Ned loved him for that, for remembering her still after all these years. He called for a lantern. No other words were needed. The queen had begun to protest. They had been riding since dawn, everyone was tired and cold, surely they should refresh themselves first. The dead would wait. She had said no more than that; Robert had looked at her, and her twin brother Jaime had taken her quietly by the arm, and she had said no more.

The dead wolf girl will always matter more to Robert than his living wife, and it seems Cersei still minds that even after all these years. Jaime diffuses a potential nasty situation, which is a microcosm for Jaime's role in Robert and Cersei's marriage - keeping Cersei placated enough that the friction between her and Robert is reduced to a minimum. And yet it's not enough. (And pretty ironic, since Jaime's role in that marriage is both solving problems and creating bigger ones.)

"This king Ned scarcely recognized" Ned thinks of Robert, and that's the point, isn't it? Robert has changed physically, but he's still the same man he's always been. It's Ned that remembers him different - a better man than Robert has ever been - and will struggle with the realization.

“I was starting to think we would never reach Winterfell,” Robert complained as they descended. “In the south, the way they talk about my Seven Kingdoms, a man forgets that your part is as big as the other six combined.” “I trust you enjoyed the journey, Your Grace?” Robert snorted. “Bogs and forests and fields, and scarcely a decent inn north of the Neck. I’ve never seen such a vast emptiness. Where are all your people?” “Likely they were too shy to come out,” Ned jested. He could feel the chill coming up the stairs, a cold breath from deep within the earth. “Kings are a rare sight in the north.” Robert snorted. “More likely they were hiding under the snow. Snow, Ned!” The king put one hand on the wall to steady himself as they descended. “Late summer snows are common enough,” Ned said. “I hope they did not trouble you. They are usually mild.” “The Others take your mild snows,” Robert swore. “What will this place be like in winter? I shudder to think.” “The winters are hard,” Ned admitted. “But the Starks will endure. We always have.”

A very effective picture of the North in just a few lines! Although there's more to the North than the hard parts.

Robert's description of the South in summer is pretty poetic, I mean, if you ignore the misogyny in his description of women. Okay, it partly speaks of Robert's privilege as he can enjoy all the pleasures his land can offer. But I also think he's not that far from the truth when he says that everyone is "fat and drunk and rich". Obviously that's not true true, since peasants are still peasants and not rich, but the kingdom is enjoying a long period of peace and prosperity. They've been having a long summer. The only war since the Rebellion was fought in the Iron Islands, leaving the rest of the kingdom untouched. So Robert is, like, getting the right answer while using the wrong formula. Most people are not as weathy as he is, but there's good crops, food in abundance for everyone, and the economy of the kingdom is flourishing. Which makes it ever more heartbreaking when war breaks out and everything goes to hell. Winter is coming for the kingdom in horrific ways they don't realize yet.

It was always cold down here. Their footsteps rang off the stones and echoed in the vault overhead as they walked among the dead of House Stark. The Lords of Winterfell watched them pass. Their likenesses were carved into the stones that sealed the tombs. In long rows they sat, blind eyes staring out into eternal darkness, while great stone direwolves curled round their feet. The shifting shadows made the stone figures seem to stir as the living passed by. By ancient custom an iron longsword had been laid across the lap of each who had been Lord of Winterfell, to keep the vengeful spirits in their crypts. The oldest had long ago rusted away to nothing, leaving only a few red stains where the metal had rested on stone. Ned wondered if that meant those ghosts were free to roam the castle now. He hoped not. The first Lords of Winterfell had been men hard as the land they ruled. In the centuries before the Dragonlords came over the sea, they had sworn allegiance to no man, styling themselves the Kings in the North.

Actually, Ned, I think it's going to be a good thing that the ancient Kings of Winter are around. Just in case something passes by that the ancient Kings of Winter would be used to deal with. Just saying. I do wonder what will be the role of the dead in the crypts of Winterfell, but of one thing I'm sure: they won't be used as puppets by the Others. The ancient people of the North knew better than to leave their dead undefended. Like the Wall is inbued with defensive magic, I'm sure these tombs have a heavy dose of magic against the enemy. Maybe those swords were never supposed to protect the living from the dead in the crypts, but were supposed to be wielded by the "good" dead to protect the living from the "bad" dead, and in time that knowledge was lost.

Anyway, they are so very going to play a part, these ancient Starks whose eyes follow Ned and Robert as they pass. It's always meaningful when something that should not be sentient feels like it's watching. It usually means there is, in fact, something sentient watching. Maybe this is also [going to be] Bran, maybe not.

The crypt continued on into darkness ahead of them, but beyond this point the tombs were empty and unsealed; black holes waiting for their dead, waiting for him and his children. Ned did not like to think on that.

Something that seems creepy while they're alive - the tombs meant for them - turns out to be something desirable once they're dead. Ned's bones being prevented from reaching their supposed resting place, Robb's body defiled and desacrated, Cat's body (she might not be a Stark, but she becomes one during the war) being given a sacrilegious mockery of a Tully funeral - none of them can rest, they all haunt the kingdom and the narrative, in Cat's case she literally comes back to life as a revived corpse, but Ned and Robb also haunt the South. And of course, the absence of them in their place in Winterfell also creates a spiritual imbalance in Winterfell itself.

(Also, honestly, I find there's something sweet and comforting in the empty space in the marble of the family grave where my picture and name and the pictures and names of my loved ones will eventually be placed. It's inevitable that each of us will die, after all, and it's nice to know we'll be in the same place to rest together.)

The dead of House Stark will need to be put to rest before the end of the story. The fact that Ned's first chapter is set in the crypts... I see what you did there, George. Ned's journey will find its conclusion here.

There were three tombs, side by side. Lord Rickard Stark, Ned’s father, had a long, stern face. The stonemason had known him well. He sat with quiet dignity, stone fingers holding tight to the sword across his lap, but in life all swords had failed him. In two smaller sepulchres on either side were his children. Brandon had been twenty when he died, strangled by order of the Mad King Aerys Targaryen only a few short days before he was to wed Catelyn Tully of Riverrun. His father had been forced to watch him die. He was the true heir, the eldest, born to rule. Lyanna had only been sixteen, a child-woman of surpassing loveliness. Ned had loved her with all his heart. Robert had loved her even more. She was to have been his bride.

Both Ned and Robert had their lives uprooted by the deaths of the two Stark siblings. Ned took Brandon's place as Lord of Winterfell and as Catelyn's husband. Robert, well. Ironically he takes the place that was supposed to be Rhaegar's and marries the woman Rhaegar was supposed to marry originally. But Ned embraces his unexpected role and quickly grows to love his wife, Robert just despises the responsibilities of the throne and Cersei.

The fact that Ned was not supposed to rule Winterfell... It makes you wonder if this is ultimately the reason Ned is so unequipped to deal with the court and eventually loses the game of thrones. He was not raised to be Lord of Winterfell, he was raised to run some holdfast for his older brother (like he tells Bran he'll do for Robb - I see what you did there, George). Catelyn, on the other hand, was raised almost like a firstborn son for years since her father was afraid he'd never get a son. And it's Catelyn that almost makes it - she insist they hurry to eat under the Frey's roof, so that the rules of hospitality will keep them safe. She plays the game well... it's just that the other side breaks the rules of the game. You can't blame her for that.

Anyway, let's not get too ahead of ourselves. If "by ancient custom an iron longsword had been laid across the lap of each who had been Lord of Winterfell, to keep the vengeful spirits in their crypts" then it means that Brandon and Lyanna don't have one. Maybe Brandon was given one anyway, since he was meant to be Lord of Winterfell. But Lyanna surely hasn't been given a sword. I don't know if that means anything metaphysically, but metaphorically her ghost is haunting the two men visiting her grave for sure.

I love how Robert dislikes her resting place arrangement, unable to understand what it means to a Stark. Robert never understood anything about Lyanna, and I am convinced that it was her choice to go with Rhaegar instead of marrying Robert, that she purposely did it to avoid marrying Robert.

Speaking of Rhaegar... in the previous chapter, Dany thinks of Rhaegar's death as something Rhaegar did "for the woman he loved". Now Robert and Ned obviously think of Rhaegar's death as punishment for harming Lyanna... The truth is probably in the middle, alright. Rhaegar was not the perfect man Viserys has described him to Dany, but he was not the man Robert thinks of him.

Rhaegar is still a mystery we're given clues to here and there in the books. Personally I think his tragedy was the weight of prophecy on him - at some point he must have realized that the "ice and fire" part of "the song of ice and fire" did not refer to "our side (fire) and the enemy (ice)" but "Stark and Targaryen" (as in the "Pact of Ice and Fire" established during the Dance of the Dragons), which must have made him think of his marriage to ~more fire~ (a Martell i.e. the sun) the wrong choice, because the prince who was promised could not be fire+fire but fire+ice. And then he possibly met a Stark girl who was very determined to create her own path instead of marrying the man her father had promised her to... and the rest is history.

“In my dreams, I kill him every night,” Robert admitted. “A thousand deaths will still be less than he deserves.” There was nothing Ned could say to that.

Ned is fucking thinking about keeping a certain boy as far away from Robert's eyes as possible for the entirety of Robert's visit.

They start talking about Jon Arryn's death, which happened so fast and unexpectedly, not suspicious at all.

“Catelyn fears for her sister. How does Lysa bear her grief?” Robert’s mouth gave a bitter twist. “Not well, in truth,” he admitted. “I think losing Jon has driven the woman mad, Ned. She has taken the boy back to the Eyrie. Against my wishes. I had hoped to foster him with Tywin Lannister at Casterly Rock. Jon had no brothers, no other sons. Was I supposed to leave him to be raised by women?” Ned would sooner entrust a child to a pit viper than to Lord Tywin, but he left his doubts unspoken.

Ned is so funny.

(Also, Robert is so misogynistic, seven hells, why do you think the girl ran off with some other guy, Robert?)

“The boy is my namesake, did you know that? Robert Arryn. I am sworn to protect him. How can I do that if his mother steals him away?”

I have some thoughts about namesakes. Ned named his eldest ~sons~ after Robert and Jon Arryn, and only the youngest sons after his brother and father. His daughters are also given Stark names. That leads me to believe that Jon actually has been given a name by Lyanna, that Jon is just a cover Ned finds to make the baby believable as his son. Because the boy named after Robert dies, and the boy named after Jon Arryn... also dies. It seems only fitting that Jon is eventually reborn with a different name. The Stark children who have been given non-Stark names cannot survive, only the ones carrying Stark names can survive.

"But Marghe, Rickon has a Stark name and there's no way he survives the story," you might say. Okay, maybe it's not a universal truth for all Stark children and more of a "you doomed those two boys by naming him after your Rebellion companions" thing. Or maybe Rickon survives after all. Fingers crossed.

“I have more concern for my nephew’s welfare than I do for Lannister pride,” Ned declared. “That is because you do not sleep with a Lannister.” Robert laughed, the sound rattling among the tombs and bouncing from the vaulted ceiling.

Here it is, the crux of the troubles soon to happen. Robert's priority is preventing his wife from ~nagging at him, and that's going to get Sansa's direwolf dead, Sansa's trust in Ned broken, and everything that follows.

And then Robert gets to the reason he went to visit Ned in person. Gods, he is so selfish. He hates being king because it's annoying and tedious to him. He says he hates being surrounded by liars and flatterers and he wants someone who's gonna tell him the truth to his face - but he won't listen to Ned anyway, so. (Makes you really appreciate Stannis actually listening to Davos, uh. Damn it Robert, Stannis should have been your new Hand, you just didn't pick him because you find him annoying!) He knows that Ned will hate the job, but he wants him to do it regardless.

Robert groaned with good-humored impatience. “If I wanted to honor you, I’d let you retire. I am planning to make you run the kingdom and fight the wars while I eat and drink and wench myself into an early grave.” He slapped his gut and grinned. “You know the saying, about the king and his Hand?” Ned knew the saying. “What the king dreams,” he said, “the Hand builds.” “I bedded a fishmaid once who told me the lowborn have a choicer way to put it. The king eats, they say, and the Hand takes the shit.” He threw back his head and roared his laughter. The echoes rang through the darkness, and all around them the dead of Winterfell seemed to watch with cold and disapproving eyes.

Robert also complains Ned is too serious, to which Ned responds with his own brand of humor:

“They say it grows so cold up here in winter that a man’s laughter freezes in his throat and chokes him to death,” Ned said evenly. “Perhaps that is why the Starks have so little humor.”

Re-reading the chapter, Ned keeps joking, but it's a kind of deadpan humor Robert doesn't really get.

Now comes a bit that makes me go mmm.

“You helped me win this damnable throne, now help me hold it. We were meant to rule together. If Lyanna had lived, we should have been brothers, bound by blood as well as affection. Well, it is not too late. I have a son. You have a daughter. My Joff and your Sansa shall join our houses, as Lyanna and I might once have done.”

Did he really love Lyanna, or was he in love with the idea of becoming ~brothers~ with Ned? Did Ned possibly encourage their father to betroth Lyanna to Robert, blinded by the enthusiasm of becoming brothers with Robert, not realizing that Lyanna would not be happy with him at all, and inadvertantly sending everything to hell?

There's also another layer to this - Robert wanted to "rule together" with Ned. He basically wanted Ned to be his queen. Making him Hand of the King basically makes him his queen. (See also Davos as Stannis' truest queen.)

I think that Robert and Ned's affection (obsession? inability to see each other as they truly are but seeing a fictional version of each other instead?) for each other destroyed Lyanna first, and Sansa later.

For a moment Eddard Stark was filled with a terrible sense of foreboding. This was his place, here in the north. He looked at the stone figures all around them, breathed deep in the chill silence of the crypt. He could feel the eyes of the dead. They were all listening, he knew. And winter was coming.

So tragic when the characters themselves see the foreshadowing but cannot but walk to their doom anyway...

[mrs-willow]

"A Raven and a Falcon" benji x oc

Disclaimer: I am not familiar with the Dance of Dragons books or the accurate storyline, so I have decided to change it to fit this story. I could not find an exact or reliable family tree for either House Blackwood or House Arryn, so I just made my own characters.  

The dance never actually happens!!! Viserys doesn’t die until he reaffirms Rhaenyra as his heir, and after that big family dinner, Rhaenyra returns on Dragon back, and she and Alicent talk out everything. There are mutual apologies, tears, laughter, and everyone lives. 

This is a sappy slow burn with angst, fluff, smut later, and everything I make up when I disassociate.  

This is literally my first post on here or any other website, so please be nice. I am writing this solely for my own enjoyment… there needs to be more Benjicot Blackwood material on this app.  However, I would still love feedback, and if there is something that you think would add to the story, message me, and I’ll see what I can do. 

Summary: Lady Lillian of the House Arryn reaches her eight and ten in a fortnight and has yet to be wed or promised to another Lord. After returning from Kings Landing for the coronation of Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen, she is informed of her Father and brother's plans to wed her to a man she has only seen glimpses of and whose reputation is insanity and bloodlust. Lillian learns to love this new stranger, or will she be forced into a life of loneliness and solitude and made to produce heirs until she dies?

Warnings: smut (later), blood, violence, cursing, period typical sexism, alternating POVs, (idk lmk if I should add more stuff)

Chapter 1

As Caelan strode through the corridors of the Eyrie he pondered the rumors of the castle being haunted just as Harenhall is. The man had grown up running through these halls with his siblings, escaping the septas and playing games of war and duels, and yet he could not remember the strange sound of wind whistling through the columns and doorways, creating the strange feeling that someone was trying to speak with you. That fate awaits one as one grows from boy to man. 

Caelans riding boots echo on the dark stone as he makes his way to the Arryn family's apartments. The decorations adorning the walls turn from mosaic replicas of the vast mountain range the Castle was built in, with striking figures of falcons soaring through twenty-foot billowing clouds to soft tapestries displaying a man, his wife, and four beaming blonde children. Metalwork of falcons and moons adorns the tall arches of doorways, and vases of flows rode in from the reach sit colorfully in vases. 

This deep into the castle, the man and the flowers are protected from the harsh rain and winds whipping through the outermost corridors and open rooms. Still, as he enters Lord Arryns personal study, Caelan finds all four hearths of the great room lit as the aging man cannot escape the chill of a month's travel on the King's Road during winter.

At the sound of someone entering the great room, the old man looks up from the pages he had previously been contemplating. It's funny how a few words can cause so much stress. Robert Arryn was a kind man, loved by his bannerman, and respected in court and on the battlefield. His Knights of the Vale were among the fiercest armies in the Seven Kingdoms and were recently praised by the new Queen Rhaenyra when Robert matched them south as a show of support for the true Queen and a warning for those who mean to harm her. Among his Knights, the Seasnakes Armada, the Blackwood host, and the Northmen showed formidable support for their true queen. Yet, Robert is no longer a twenty-year-old man poised for battle and all manner of foolish, daring adventures, and this long trip has taken its toll on the man's bones.

He muttered as he met his son at the table. 

“The realms delight should’ve lived up to the title and held the coronation in spring to spare all us old men the pain of the cold set into our bones.” 

The young man subtly rolled his eyes away from his disgruntled father. “If you had listened to my warnings of the rain while on horseback, perhaps you would not be in such discomfort, Father,” Caelan teased with a small smirk. 

Robert sent the young man his most fearsome glare, “I will not be laughed at in my own home, boy. Now go get your father a pelt so he might not freeze to death in the damn winter.” 

Calan rose, joking that the “bloody Starks are always right at some point. Winter is Here.” 

The two men sat side by side momentarily, gazing into the crackling fire. One old man sat grateful that he had not been called to fight another war, “so much death and cruelty in the world,” he thought, “thank the old gods and the new that my children will not know war.” The younger man sat gazing at the flames, contemplating his father's reasons for calling him here at such a late hour with the castle all but asleep. His mind immediately drifted to the worst reasons for the summoning, and he prayed his worries would soon be eased when his Lord Father stopped being such a dramatic old crow.

“Father, why have you summoned me at such an odd hour?” Caelan questioned. The man knew better than to press his father for answers and thus sat patiently like a little boy waiting for his father's commands. 

Robert sighed. He then rose and retrieved the papers he had been studying when Caelan first arrived in the study. Wordlessly, Robert handed the letter to his son and resumed his place at the table, once again falling silent.

As Caelan reads the letter addressed to Lord Robert Arryn of the Vale, the reality of getting older becomes present and clear as the childhood he once knew begins to fade into blurry memories filled with love and laughter.

Caelan reaches his father's eyes, “Lillian is to be…” he pauses and lets his father's eyes answer his question. 

“She is to be Married,” Robert affirms. “She is nearly ten and eight; the time has come, and it would do her more harm than good to shelter her here until it truly is impossible for us to let her go or her to let us.”

Caelan leans back in the oversized chair he adorns, “She will be livid,” he warns his father. 

“Aye,” Robert agrees, “but that is the way of things and she cannot hide in these mountains forever.” 

“Father, I agree, but truly to that man?” Caelan questions. “You cannot possibly think that giving Lillian to a psycho would be wise?”

“Mind your tongue, boy,” Robert warns. “His father is one of my oldest friends and closest allies.” Robert reminds his emotional Son.

“Yes, of course, but that does not discredit the news we hear of his son. We mu-”

Robert rose swiftly from his chair, “I will hear none of this. Samwell Blackwood and I were raised side by side. We learned to shoot, ride, and wield swords together, and I trust that the man I grew up with raised a son who is equally honorable and just as he is.”

Caelan slumped forward, defeated. “At least allow me to inform her of this change to her life?” the man asked. “She will be more forgiving if it comes from me rather than you.”

Robert sighed. He felt pride swell in his breast for his eldest son and his three younger children. He was proud to have raised them in a manner that made them friends and confidants rather than enemies. He knew then and there that his eldest son would be equally loved and honored as Lord of the Vale when death came for him. 

“I will allow it, but it must be done in the morning. She will leave the day following her name day.” 

“Thank you, father. If I may retire to my chambers, I sense tomorrow will be a trying day.” 

Robert raised his hand and bid his son a good night, then called after him, “Caelan? Please tell her that I’m sorry.”

Caelan paused and sighed, “Father, you must tell her this yourself. Soon, she will no longer be a short walk from your own chamber.”

With that, the heir to House Arryn headed back toward his chambers and noticed that the howling in the halls sounded sweater, slightly more musical and feminine.

Back in the study, Lord Arryn stood in front of the hearth in contemplation. He reminisced about the times his family was still whole and couldn’t help but feel that he was chipping away yet another piece of his soul in allowing his daughter to leave the safety of her family.   

[acewritesfics]

Nothing Else Matters | Tommy Shelby

Pairing: Tommy Shelby x Reader

Request: No.  

Warnings: Mentions of war. Not my favorite imagine that I've ever written. 

Word count: 800

TOMMY SHELBY MASTERLIST

⚠️ THIS IS A REPOST FROM MY MAIN BLOG @/DLMLUFICS. YOU CAN FIND THE ORIGINAL POST STILL FLOATING AROUND ON TUMBLR SOMEWHERE. UNFORTUNATELY, I HAVE TO DO IT THIS WAY. MORE INFO IN MY PINNED POST.

"Nothing else matters as long as we are together," Tommy speaks softly to Y/N as they slow dance to the classical tune that is playing through the gramophone in the corner of their living room. "You make me forget about everything and everyone but you." 

She shuts her eyes and rests her head on his shoulder. His arm around her waist pulls her closer to him as he sways to the rhythm of the music. His words make her heart skip a beat. Tommy hardly ever talked about his feelings. When he did, he was alone with her. 

Y/N was his longest and dearest friend before she became his wife. Tommy and Y/N have known each other since they were babies since their mothers were more like sisters than best friends. 

The two women became pregnant around the same time, with Tommy being born two months before Y/N. 

Even though Y/N's affections for the Birmingham mobster deepened throughout the years before Tommy was sent to war, their friendship never blossomed romantically until Tommy returned home when the war was over. She didn't confess her love to Tommy until he was ready to board the train that was taking him away from her and his family. She pleaded with him to return home because she couldn't bear to live without him. 

Throughout the war, the two exchanged letters between his visits home. Once his letters stopped closer to the end, she feared the worst. During his visits home she could see how much the war was changing him and the others. He wasn't the Tommy she'd grown up with but her love for him never wavered. 

She hugged Arthur and John after they hugged their aunt and sister, kissing their cheeks, delighted to have them home alive. Her heart ached for John, whose wife had died not long before his return. She had helped Polly and Ada take care of the kids and Finn, the youngest of the Shelby siblings. 

It wasn't until the most of the families had left the station that she spotted the Shelby brother, whom she had feared was lost. She was filled with emotion when she saw him standing there, bruised and broken but still alive. Her eyes welled up with tears as she ran towards the man she loves, his arms stretched out to greet her as she landed in his arms. Tommy kissed her before she could say anything, afraid that this was all a dream. 

The couple's relationship was not easy. Tommy was overcoming the trauma he had experienced while in France and readjusting back into society. Tommy frequently awoke believing he was still in the French trenches and that he was still being tortured all over again. He tried numerous times to convince Y/N to leave him, but the more he tried, the more she proved she would not leave him. The nights he spent with her, the nightmares, the memories, and the mental scars faded to the back of his mind. 

He realises in those moments just how much he loves her, how much he appreciates her, and how much he had been taking her for granted. It's always been her for Thomas Shelby. And for her, it's always been him. It took a war and years apart for him to realise it. 

"Tommy?" she asks, lifting her head from his shoulder to look into his magnificent icy blue eyes. 

He responds, looking intently into her eyes, "Yes, love?" 

"I need you to be safe tomorrow," she says, recalling his meeting at the horse races. She is aware that things with the Shelby Brothers hardly ever go as anticipated. "At the first sign of trouble, you get out of there." 

Her greatest fear throughout the war was Tommy not returning home. She still feels the same fear even though there is no longer a war. 

"I may come home a little banged up from time to time, but I always return home to you," He makes an attempt to soothe her worries. 

She moves away from him and says, "It's not only me you have to return home to, Thomas; I'm not raising our child without you." His gaze travels to her belly, to the small bump where his baby is growing. "And you still have to marry me. We can't be married if you're not here." 

"Everything will be alright," Tommy promises her as he brings her back into his arms. He places his hand on her tiny bump, "Now, instead of worrying about me, you worry about Tommy Jr. in there." 

He sways to the music once more as she puts her head back on his shoulder. "I'll always worry about you, Tommy, the both of you because I have no doubt this child will be his father's son." 

[helplesslyblue77]

Stray Kids-Fairy Tales with a Twist

a series of fics, each one focusing on an individual member, and placing them into classic fairy tales, each with their own little twist for flavor 

They will come out one at a time, at a random pace, but hopefully i'll be done by september(But with me its hit or miss)

and most of these will have smut

So why dont you sit down, and listen to my tales...

“Once upon a time, in a far away Kingdom...”

Bang Chan...Snow White

“Years ago, your father had died and your mother had remarried. You never liked your step father, simply because he was not your real father, and you made no secret of your dislike. Many years later, your mother died and your step father became the temporary reigning monarch. You vowed the feelings you were feeling were anger, but when you fall prey to a mysterious curse you realize maybe those feelings weren't hatred after all…”

Completed!

Lee Minho...The Little Mermaid

“Merpeople have been disappearing, and your Father, King Triton, gives you a mission. Go to the surface and investigate. You are excited to explore the surface, but upset that you have to be accompanied by the Sea Witch Ursula’s son, Lee Minho, because you think he hates you. But bad things are brewing on the horizon, and you will need all the help you can get, maybe even from the man you ‘don't like’…”

(Coming Soon...)

Seo Changbin...Little Red Riding Hood

It's your birthday and you're on your way to visit your grandmother in the woods. Your mother always told you never to stray from the path, and you had listened, never following the clever words of the wolf. But maybe the wolf didn't want to eat you, maybe he was just lonely…

(Coming Soon...)

Hwang Hyunjin...Beauty and the Beast

You are an enchantress, and long ago, you had punished a spoiled prince with a curse. He would turn into a beast until he felt true love’s kiss. Many years later, you finally decide he has suffered enough and send a sweet girl named Belle to help the cursed prince. But for some reason, the beast refuses to fall in love with her and keeps trying to talk to you…

(Coming Soon...)

Han Jisung...The Frog Prince

Once upon a time while gathering wild mushrooms for dinner, you find a peculiar golden frog. You decide to keep him, not knowing that the frog is actually a cursed prince. You carry on with your daily life, musing about how weird your new pet frog is, until one day, you slip and fall, accidentally placing a kiss on his warty forehead…

(Coming Soon...)

Lee Felix...Cinderella

Once upon a time, you had lived a happy life, with your loving mother and kind father. You had been best friends with a sweet boy who would come to visit you every day. But one day, it all changed. Your mother fell ill, and soon after passed away. The boy suddenly disappeared and your father remarried. Your step mother was kind to you at first, but as soon as your father would leave on his merchant trips, she and her daughters would bully you, forcing you to do all the chores. One day, you hear of the prince's ball. In hopes of meeting a nice man and escaping from your stepmother's house you try your best to go. When you arrive at the masquerade, you are fortunate to dance with the prince. But you have the strangest feeling you have met him before… 

(Coming Soon...)

Kim Seungmin...Rapunzel

Once upon a time, a beautiful princess was born, with golden locks that shined brightly. Fearing for her safety, the king and queen entrusted their daughter to a powerful witch friend, to keep her safe and hidden until she came of age. Years later, on Rapunzel's tenth birthday, a prince came knocking on the tower, mistakenly informed that Rapunzle was much older, and trapped by an evil witch. You quickly drive him away, after explaining the story but for some reason he keeps coming back and bothering you…

(Coming Soon...)

Yang Jeongin...Hansel and Gretal

You are a powerful witch living deep in the forests, whose only wish is to be left alone. One day, a young girl and her older brother venture into the forest, trying to escape their evil stepmother. They both eat part of your candy house, and to apologize, the boy agrees to be your housecleaner for a few months. In return, you promise to help them with their evil stepmother. You try to keep your distance from the boy, but for some reason, hes always following you around, trying to get your attention…

(Coming Soon...)

(This announcement post was mostly made so that i would guilt myself into actually finishing all of these stories, because if i don't leave a record somewhere, i probably won't finish this series to completion.

Oh yeah and the summaries for these might change slightly, i never quite stick to my plans. Don’t worry though, the basic themes will be the same)

[musicalmoritz]

Whose your favorite tbhk character?

Ahhhhhhh I’m so glad you asked this!! It’s easily Teru, no competition. I decided he was going to be my favorite before I even read the manga and I have stood by that decision, everything I read about him only makes me love him more. Since this is a primarily ship account, a femslash account at that, I don’t get to talk about him as much as I would like to but I absolutely LOVE Teru he is my son

It’s so refreshing to see an older sibling in anime that isn’t abusive, I’m so used to seeing ones that absolutely suck ass. Don’t get me wrong, I love a lot of those characters too, but it’s nice to see an older sibling character that actually acts like an oldest sibling. Everything he does is for Kou and Tiara, he adores both of them. He always looks at and talks to them so fondly but we still catch scenes of him teasing them like siblings do (the donut scene with Kou). He acts very parental with both of them which is sweet, Minamoto dad who?? I only know Teru

I also like that he falls into the Gandalf archetype of “strong character that everyone else relies on to save the day”. Part of me hopes he dies just so we can see what the characters would do without him lol, but there are other ways to write him out for that development. Put him in a box like Gojo, or have him get arrested like Dazai. Tbh anything would be more interesting than him ending the series staring sadly at Akane and Aoi as they walk into the sunset without him. Best case scenario, let him quit his job!! Let him be somebody’s malewife, I don’t care who just give that boy a break. Let him pull a Maki Zenin on the Minamoto Clan

And yeah speaking of the clan, Teru’s angst is obviously a large part of why I like him. He didn’t get a childhood, and he’s forced to continue with a job he hates so that his siblings don’t have to. I love those type of characters tbh, they make me so sad. He’s morally gray and I love that but I also find his reasons for doing what he does to be very admirable, I would do the same if I were in his shoes. He sacrifices all his free time to protect the city from supernaturals, bro is just casually the Batman of the TBHK universe. And he does it mainly for his siblings, which circles back to the “good big brother” thing. It’s not a reach to assume he has trauma from fighting supernaturals at such a young age (and for so long), so I understand why he has a hard time seeing the good in them. That makes it extra interesting when he decides Akane is an exception

I love his personality, he’s the embodiment of the word “silly.” I like his sadistic side, sadist characters are so fun to me (Minamoto Typical Sadism mention). I like that he’s charming to his classmates and generally kind to all humans, despite all the cruel things he’s been through. He doesn’t want any other humans to suffer like he has so he treats them with kindness and vows to protect them. And most of all I like the way he acts around his friends and siblings, particularly Akane!! He acts like a normal teenager around him and we get to see just how socially awkward he actually is when he’s being himself. But he also doesn’t hold back with Akane, he doesn’t feel the need to show him the same respect he shows others so his sadist side really comes out when they’re together. Many fans seem to assume that Teru ONLY acts his age around Akane but that’s not true, he acts that way around Nene and Aoi too!! And with Aoi he shows a bit of his darker side, though he’s not mean to her the way he is with Akane

I love his atrocious sense of fashion, I love his terrible cooking skills, I love how scheming and shady he can be, I love how caring he is towards others, I love his speech patterns. It’s the exact opposite of Kendrick and Drake, I love everything about this man. He’s my silly little guy, my gay best friend, my skrunkly dude. He’s clearly under a lot of pressure and he’s still super young so I cut him way more slack than most fans do, my little sister is also 17 and she’s a baby in my eyes so Teru is too

Oh, what are my favorite scenes of his? I like when he agreed to help Kou catch bugs without knowing the context, I like when he randomly started venting to Akane, him taking out the roof of that train, what he did with the pepperonis, the entire sequence of his first day off, the zombie chapter…ugh I love this guy. I love writing him. I need to write Teru again

Thank you so much for this ask, I love whenever I have an excuse to infodump about my favorite characters lol. And for those of you that were wondering, my second favorite is Kou. Ty ty

[swallowtail-ageha]

Scrolling through your asoiaf tag and you have such good and correct opinions like how can anyone love just Dany or just Sansa or just Arya like how can anyone not see the parallels between Dany and Sansa it makes me feel so crazy like why are there so few people who love all the girlies?? I genuinely love every single female POV character and can’t imagine hating any of them. I mean sure yeah Cersei is a villain but you’re telling me her tragedy doesn’t touch your heart? Watching this woman desperately try to avoid her prophecy as it unfolds before you doesn’t have you in a death grip? Or like are you unmoved by Sansa telling an annoying snotty little boy how brave he is because she wants him to feel better? Dany comforting Missandei when her brother dies? Arya getting to the house of the black and white and immediately thinning to being a man a cup of water (or at least what she thought was water)? How about Sansa telling Joffrey she hopes Robb cuts his head off? Dany sassing the man who wants to open the fighting pits? Arya telling Jaquen to kill himself? Like please come on. All three girls are obviously different but they share so many very endearing traits. I am fiercely holding tight to my delusion that Dany and Sansa will bond over stories and songs and Arya will teach Dany about all the flowers in Westeros and then Sansa will show them how to make flower crowns and embroider little emblems on Arya’s clothes

First of all tysm!!!!

The whole arya vs sansa vs dany fandom fight frustrates me to no end, mainly because all parties involved seem to have little to no empathy to the characters whose stans they oppose. It's all maliciously extrapolating some parts of the text to make them see worse than what they are (ex: daenerys' "if i look back i am lost" getting twisted from "dany knows that dwelling on what ifs and turning your back after you have taken a commitment will only damage you in the long term" in "dany doesn't want to reflect on her past mistakes and will go mad and get stabbed to death" or sansa getting frustrated at sweetrobin being a sign of her being ableist and classist while it's. Just a normal reaction of a stressed and traumatized 13 yo who is otherwise very sweet to her cousin)

For loving the female characters same! Even those who commit outwardly villainous acts do get lots of humanizing moments, Cersei, as awful as she is, is simply a product of the hyper misogynistic society she lives in plus years of parental and spousal abuse (and the doomed by prophecy vibes) and. I genuinely don't get how people can look at the walk of shame and say it's a fitting punishment to her crimes

Overall all the hate for female characters that are more complex or more driven or more morally ambiguous than what most female characters are presented as in other media in a fandom who (supposedly) prides itself in liking morally ambiguous characters is.. frustrating, really. I blame both fandom misogyny but also the GoT series, as it's outright changes in female character's actions and stories to make them look better or worse than what they originally were skewered the visions of almost everyone in the fandom (arya is an egregious victim of this. Scenes such as her caring for Weasel or her befriending sex workers in braavos don't exist and they added that "all girls are idiot" scene that i hate and they removed all her plan to free the northmen from harrenal and she got turned from traumatized child to hashtag no one super cool assassin and her character got straight up murdered in the tv series.)

Oh and also for kickstarting the whole jonsa vs jonerys thing which i'm pretty sure is the origin of the stupid dany vs sansa wars

And yes!! Dany Sansa and Arya should get to meet and reunite! While i do think that there will be some slight tensions between Sansa and Arya because they left on Not So Well terms, they have also matured a lot, so i do think they would have an heartfelt reunion. Meanwhile Dany and Arya could bond because of both their connection to Braavos and Arya's admiration for those who free slaves, and Dany would empathize (and feel a common ground) with Sansa for her being a child who had all her family die and got married extremely young while beeing creeped on by older men, while Sansa, who is shown to admire women like Margaery or Myranda, who are shown to be very keen regarding politics or social issues, something that Dany is

In the end, i genuinely hope that all three of these traumatized little girls get their happy ending and none of them dies, they all are interesting and complex characters that share parallels with each other, and it sucks that because of stupid ship wars or discussions on who would get the throne they get pitted against each other. THEY WOULD BE FRIENDS Y'ALL

[cienie-isengardu]

[MK1] Bi-Han & Kuai Liang. Good brother? Evil brother? Nah, just different reactions to trauma, part 4

part 1, part 2, part 3

Sources provided a clear difference how brothers felt about their father. For Kuai Liang, the man was a cherished parent AND authority figure he built his life around. For Bi-Han, father (and mimicking him grieving Scorpion) was a source of frustration and limitation he did not agree with. Bi-Han and Tomas definitely had a more complex relationship with their father than Kuai Liang did.

So far, we got only little bits in regard to mother and her influences on brothers and Lin Kuei politics but enough to see how Sub-Zero and Scorpion’s relationship with her differ from how they felt about father.

Before I will dwell on those relationships I would like to point out a small detail noticed during my research: so far there is no direct mention that the mother was in fact a wife of Grandmaster. She is either referred to as a mother or parent - which makes sense, because her importance is related to the brothers, not to their father, so it would be weird if Bi-Han, Tomas or Kuai Liang talked about her as the “wife of Grandmaster”. At the same time, the lack of implication of marriage bond between mother and father[1] and how she is refered feels similar to the obscure reference from original timeline:

Born in America, Sub-Zero was the oldest of three children, which included a brother and sister. Their mother wanted a normal life for her sons, who had already been chosen by the Lin Kuei to become warriors for the clan. She tried in vein to hide them from their father whose own life in America was only a cover for his true identity and purpose. Eventually they were found and their father returned with them to his homeland. Their mother and sister were never seen or heard from again. (x)

Due to this, I decided to not describe her as the wife or supposed wife of Grandmaster and stick just to provided by sources terms of mother, parent and Lin Kuei fighter - so in advance sorry for repetition of those words. At the same time, this specific way of including the mother in Bi-Han, Tomas and Kuai Liang’s story creates a possibility of a more complicated family relationship, both between brothers and their parents or between the mother and father alone. And as a result the whole Lin Kuei inner politics, as we already have a hint of its complexity due to Cyrax and Sektor's loyalty to Sub-Zero threatening Kuai Liang’s birthright to the title of Grandmaster.  Keeping it in mind, here are some of my thoughts and conclusions about the mother and her sons. 

Let’s start with Kuai Liang. There is no doubt he respected and deeply cared for father’s teaching. As I hopefully proved in the previous part, there is a solid reason to think that the loss of a cherished parent affected Scorpion to the point that grief influenced his behavior (mimicking father) and in result, relationship with brothers (barely talking with them if it didn’t involve father or tradition up to Sub-Zero’s betrayal). He expressed a burning anger at Bi-Han for letting their father die.

Kuai Liang doesn’t seem to have the same emotional bond with mother. 

Sindel: Both your parents were excellent fighters. Scorpion: I can only hope to live up to their example.

Like yes, he will acknowledge Sindel’s opinion and hope to be good as his parents but that is like the only one time we hear him saying anything about mother - and even then, she is mentioned alongside the cherished father. 

Mind you, this is solely my impression, but this intro reminds me of film scenes in which a character is told by others about a parent they had never had the chance to meet or know too well. It may be a wrong impression, but there is something about Kuai Liang’s response that makes me wonder how old he was when mother died and if he lost a parent at a young age, did it fuel his deep dedication to father as there was no other authority figure to influence him as a person?

Granted, both Kuai Liang and Bi-Han never bring mother first in their intro dialogues - what A) says a lot about their upbringing and B) differs from some mentions of father. But in Scorpion’s intro there is hardly anything truly personal about his bond with mother, or her personal feelings on Lin Kuei duty, especially when compared to those focused on the previous Grandmaster.

In contrast, we have interaction between Tomas and Bi-Han:

Smoke: If Mother were alive -- Sub-Zero: She would applaud my actions.

Tomas and Bi-Han may have a different idea of how mother would react to their brotherly conflict, but both talk about her in a more personal way. Tomas invokes her the same way he brings father into discussion:

story mode: "Were he here, Father would advise us to wait without protest."

or

Sub-Zero: You were never truly one of us. Smoke: Were Father here, he would disagree.

So we can assume mother had an impact on Tomas as he respected her as an authority figure similar to father. Alternatively, he thinks Bi-Han is more likely to listen about mother than anything he will say about their father. 

The letter part would be an interesting parallel between Tomas and Bi-Han, because Smoke himself is implied to grow up without a father or not being close to his biological parent - when talking about his original family Smoke directly mentioned so far only mother and his twin sister.

Also, the same as happened with father in intro dialogues, Kuai Liang and Tomas do not talk about their Lin Kuei mother. Scorpion claimed that Tomas never mention his biological mother and sister:

Scorpion: You never speak of your mother and sister. Smoke: Their ghosts no longer haunt me, Kuai Liang.

but as the other intro dialogues proved, Tomas does talk about them directly and indirectly with some characters, 

like Kitana,

Smoke: My sister was my twin. Kitana: How it must have hurt to lose her.

Tanya (priestess warrior) 

Smoke: After losing my family, I lost my faith. Tanya: It's the only thing that can sustain you, Tomas.

and Liu Kang (Fire Lord who may be responsible for their death)

Liu Kang: I cannot bring back your family, Tomas. Smoke: You can't or you won't?

Like I said before, it is impossible to tell for sure about which mother, biological or adoptive, Smoke was speaking, but as he claimed Li Mei resemble him mother

Li Mei: I remind you of your mother? Smoke: No-nonsense and tough as nails, just like her.

I personally assume he meant the adoptive one, as according to Smoke’s ending he lived with the Lin Kuei family for around 15 years. Logically thinking he would have more clear memories of her than about the biological parent he lost in childhood. We of course have no idea when - and how - his Lin Kuei mother died, but if I’m right in my assumption, then Tomas is providing vital insight into what kind of person she was. As Tomas said, a tough and no-nonsense woman and that fits perfectly the image of an excellent Lin Kuei fighter, because frankly, Bi-Han and Kuai Liang easily fit that description too. As presumably, the majority of Lin Kuei warriors. 

Another thing to note, the adoptive mother is not identified by Tomas with kindness, comfort or warmth or anything most people usually associate mothers with. This of course does not mean his adoptive mother didn’t love him or was a bad parent but may give us an idea what it felt to grow up in a clan primarily focused on training warriors. A purpose that definitely affected how people interacted with each other and what was expected from children. 

However the most interesting thing about Tomas considering Li Mei to be similar to adoptive mother is the fact that from all possible female fighters, he identifies mother with a woman forced into and shaped by Umgadi system of servitude but who found her true purpose outside said system. 

Kitana: Resuming your old role is a waste of material. Li Mei: Being First Constable is my first, best destiny.

or

Liu Kang: I hear the Umgadi want you back. Li Mei: I prefer to remain First Constable.

And this finally led me to the eldest brother and Sub-Zero’s statement that mother “would applaud me”.

Bi-Han outright claims mother would be proud of him and logically thinking, supportive of his choices. Which is a drastic contrast to how he perceives father as he did call the man a fool that doomed Lin Kuei.

And here comes an important thing: though sources barely provide us an idea who Bi-Han’s mother was in original timeline - a Lin Kuei herself who knew what lay ahead of her sons already chosen by the clan or just a woman that was unlucky to meet and have three children with an assassin working undercover in America - she was literally the only person that tried to give Bi-Han and Kuai Liang a normal, safe life. This woman, whoever she was, challenged a powerful assassin clan to save her two sons and daughter and was presumably killed alongside the daughter by Bi-Han’s father. This definitely affected Bi-Han’s worldview and interestingly, the sources have never implied Sub-Zero had any strong emotional ties with his father. 

Mythologies Sub-Zero’s backstory mentions only Bi-Han and Kuai Liang being kidnapped against mother’s will, that cryomancy was passed down to Bi-Han from father, that he took his place and mantle when the man died and that is basically all we know about their relationship. 

Between brothers, it is always Kuai Liang to mention other male members of their family with respect, as can be seen with new timeline Scorpion and alternative timeline Kuai Liang:

Sub-Zero: I disown you in every way. Noob Saibot: Then disown my name, 'Sub-Zero'. Sub-Zero: The name was Grandfather's first.

and

Sub-Zero: Grandfather? Sub-Zero: Defeat me to earn my mantle. Sub-Zero: You honor me with your kombat.

despite the possibility that said Grandfather may be the one that kidnapped brothers to enroll them into the Lin Kuei clan, while Bi-Han as a Noob Saibot was the one bringing their mother, even if just to be sarcastic/ironic:

Noob Saibot: You disappoint me. Sub-Zero: The feeling is mutual, brother. Noob Saibot: Mother would be so proud.

and on two separate occasions talked to Jacqui about her mom that passed shortly before MK11’s events:

Noob Saibot: Vera's soul calls you. Jacqui: Keep mama's name out your mouth, Revenant! Noob Saibot: Revenant? I am Wraith!

and

Noob Saibot: Return to your mother's arms. Jacqui: She's dead, asshole. Noob Saibot: And her soul is mine.

and isn’t it a surprisingly similar thing to current timeline Bi-Han talking to Kitana and Mileena about their dead mother?

And yes, Liu Kang’s timeline is a fresh start and a lot of things have changed but some elements seem to repeat themselves, whether the Keeper of Time agrees with it or not. Which is why I think mother - and her fate - again deeply influenced Bi-Han, the same as he was influenced in the original timeline by her desperate attempt to save him and Kuai Liang from Lin Kuei bondage. 

Bi-Han claimed mother would applaud his action, so she may herself feel resentment for Grandmaster’s idea of tradition and duty to Earthrealm and that resentment was passed down to her eldest son. Alternatively, it was her death that made Sub-Zero question both the nature of the relationship between Lin Kuei and Fire Lord and his father’s wisdom.

This leads me to another detail that may not be intentional on NRS’s part but it is repeated through the sources. The same as mother is never said to be the wife of Grandmaster - what admittedly is the most logical assumption for a traditional (patriarchal) clan as a way to secure the line of legal heir from proper marriage  - the decision of adopting Tomas was made solely by Grandmaster. And so we have:

Smoke’s bio: As a boy, Smoke lived to hunt with his family. Their final hunt, however, ended in tragedy. Having accidentally trespassed onto Lin Kuei lands, they were attacked. Smoke was orphaned. Ashamed by his warriors' actions, the Lin Kuei's Grandmaster adopted Smoke. He raised him alongside his sons, Sub-Zero and Scorpion.

and

Kitana: You are Kuai Liang's adopted brother? Smoke: His father's honor demanded that he take me in.

and

Reptile: Lucky for you, Kuai Liang's father took you in. Smoke: It didn't feel that way at the time.

or

Bi-Han, story mode: Mind your place, Tomas. Father may have taken you in, made you one of us… but your blood will never be Lin Kuei.

As I talked before about Bi-Han and Tomas forced brotherhood on different occasion it struck me how the adoption resolved mainly around father’s selfish reasons like saving his honor and erasing the feeling of guilt rather the boy’s safety and emotional health. There is something truly disturbing about forcing a child to be part of clan that murdered his family over a trivial matter. But there is also something disturbing about how the mother had no say in the adoption of Tomas, as there isn’t any hint the man consulted that with her. Now, it is understandable that in a very traditional (patriarchy) clan the father, as the Grandmaster and head of his family, could make decisions without consultation with others, including his own wife or children. But usually people who love or at least mutually respect each other discuss the vital matters before making decisions whose consequences will have such a great impact on their and their children’s life. Adopting a child, so greatly traumatized and from totally foreign culture, is something that should be a joint decision of father and mother if both were supposed to raise said kid alongside their own. In that regard the father comes off badly, not only by how sources made his reasoning selfish (“his honor demanded”, “Ashamed by his warriors' actions”, “father wanted us to be brothers”) but also how uncaring he was toward the mother of his children, especially compared to Sindel and Jerrord. 

We have no idea if Bi-Han’s father and mother were in love or were forced into a relationship by demands of tradition, maybe even through arranged marriage. But we have Sindel that though married Jerrord as a means to ensure peace, 

Sindel's Bio: When Sindel ascended to Outworld's throne, she worried that she was ill-prepared. Adding to her stress: her impending arranged marriage to Jerrod, an Outworld noble. Forced into it to placate a rebellious region, Sindel could only pray that he was worthy. To Sindel’s delight, Jerrod proved an ideal partner. 

she was loved, respected and supported by her husband and the feeling was mutual.

So far there is little suggesting Bi-Han’s mother had any real influence over Lin Kuei’s politics or that Grandmaster sought out her advice. She is not called the wife of Grandmaster, a title suggesting some high social position and so far only Sindel's remark gives us any idea what her role in clan could be. Liu Kang and Scorpion do not bring her dedication to Earthrealm and duty as a counterargument to Bi-Han’s resentment the way they talk about previous Grandmaster’s teaching and wisdom. She is pretty much removed from the picture and only Sindel and Tomas bothered to mention her at all. Sindel by praising Kuai Liang’s both parents as excellent fighters and Tomas by recalling her authority - the only one that Bi-Han seems to agree with, as according to him reclaiming Lin Kuei independence is what would please his mother.

If Tomas and Bi-Han have such a different idea of mother, the first question coming to mind is which brother speaks truth and which one is delusional. However I think that is not right question, because mother could not to speak about her desire to gain independence for Lin Kuei with Tomas - not because she didn’t love or accept the boy as her own, but because the orphan, as not born into clan, could not understand fully the Lin Kuei situation. Especially not when little Tomas was mourning the killed family and not when it became clear he and adoptive father became close. 

Another thing worth to examine is the possibility that Bi-Han, consciously or not, also associates Li Mei with his mother, as 

he clearly respect her, a former Umgadi turned into First Constable, more than Tanya, the current leader of priestess warriors:

Sub-Zero: No one in your order can defeat a Lin Kuei. Tanya: A nescient boast which is easily disproven.

or

Sub-Zero: Mileena sends a bodyguard, not a warrior? Tanya: Underestimate me at your peril, Sub-Zero.

vs

Sub-Zero: I hear your skills are formidable. Li Mei: As are those of all who have been Umgadi.

he encourages Li Mei to stop serve Royal Family and govern themselves

Sub-Zero: Your constables could also govern. Li Mei: We are sworn only to protect and serve.

something he usually does not do, as Sub-Zero has no interest in people outside Lin Kuei.

I’m painfully aware there is not enough source material to have clear conclusions and many of my thoughts are based on guesswork and comparative analysis. That said, I do think that as death of father deeply influenced Kuai Liang, the same happened with Bi-Han when their mother presumably was killed on duty. We have no idea what is the age gap between brothers, however I do think that Kuai Liang, as the younger brother, could not have a chance to know their mother well so all his devotion was focused on the living parent that raised him. If the mother personally wished for or actively supported Lin Kuei independence, she could do so as a way to ensure her children will have a better life than endless servitude, the same way the original timeline incarnation tried to save her sons from servitude to the assassin clan. In that case, Bi-Han was raised with an additional influence that shaped his mindset about his duty to clan above duty to Liu Kang and Earthrealm. If mother’s death was somehow the fault of Grandmaster and/or Fire Lord, as in, they sent her on ill-fated mission, it could be the origin of Bi-Han’s resentment against both men. 

There is much more to say about the conflict between tradition vs independence and I for sure will talk about that soon, but the next part will be focused on POWER.

SIDENOTES:

[1] Alternative timeline seems the closest to presenting Bi-Han and Kuai Liang’s parents as the “normal family” as both look devastated when their children were kidnapped by Lin Kuei.

At the same time, MK11’s intro dialogues of Sub-Zero and Noob suggests their grandfather was once a Sub-Zero himself, with raises a question how much their parents were aware of danger from the assassin clan and if any of them were a Lin Kuei themselves.

[prime-adeptus]

Okay, first of all: I WAS SO HAPPY WHEN I SAW YOU DIS MY REQUEST!!! 😍 Secondly: I'm back to order another one if you don't mind. Hanzo x reader where reader worked/lived in the Shimada mansion as a child because reader's family is a family that has served the Shimadas for centuries. Hanzo reader and Genji were friends when they were kids, they played together in secret and everything. Hanzo had a crush on Reader, but as Reader was not from a noble family he knew that this relationship would never be accepted, so he hid his feelings (although Genji knew because come on Hanzo you can't look at them with love eyes and think that he won't notice). Years pass and what we already know happens between Hanzo and Genji happens, now in the present, in the Overwatch recall Genji called Hanzo to be part of Overwatch and he went, even hesitantly, but what he didn't expect was to find reader there, also being part of Overwatch. Basically a scenario of their reunion and how Hanzo's feelings never died, but now more than ever he don't think he is worthy reader love, even though the reader also likes him (extra points if Genji tries to play cupid between the two).

The Winds of Tomorrow [1/3]

In which you find that Hanzo, the man who’d become a stranger over the years, becomes a loved one once again.

✧ PAIRING: Hanzo Shimada x GN!Reader

✦ CONTENT: Childhood friends to lovers, class differences, blood and violence, drifting apart, reunions, hopeful ending. AU - Canon divergent.

✧ NOTES: HI ANON I’M SO SORRY IT TOOK ME SO LONG TO GET TO THIS, I’ve been really uninspired and;; but I’ve been playing Overwatch again and I WILL feed you these crumbs. Hanzo loves you he’s just a little quiet about it

AO3 | Masterlist | @houseofsolisoccasum @interstellar-inn

Hanzo has always had a special place in your heart since you were children.

You remember it clear as day — you, much younger than you are now with a flower tucked behind your ear and a toothy grin as you drag him through yet another clearing with joy. It was a sunny afternoon and your parents were away doing their respective duties. The elders weren’t quite happy with a servant child being so comfortable with the future successor of the Shimada clan, but that never stopped you. Master Sojiro, for one, was glad to see that his sons had a friend and got to have some semblance of a normal childhood.

It wasn’t as if you were unaware of the things those elders said. It wasn’t as if they were afraid to say it to your face, either. But your mother taught you to hold your head up high and ignore them, because what mattered was that you were happy and the brothers were too.

Genji was away for his tutoring session (“Seriously? I want to train with them!”) and Hanzo had fulfilled his duties for the day, leaving him available for your shenanigans. Your parents were helping take care of the guests whose arrival was imminent. All they told you to do was stay out of trouble.

Hanzo sat cross-legged under the cherry blossom tree with his arms over his chest, a small pout forming at his lips as you attentively adorned his hairs with flowers you’d found. He had a hidden love from the arts. It showed in his calligraphy and poetry, but he was also one to take his image seriously. It never mattered much to you. He was your only other friend, which left him no choice. Though he made it seem like an obligation, you knew he liked spending his downtime with you. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have let you read some of his works or play with his hair like this.

“I can’t return to the manor like this,” he grumbled. You grinned to yourself, gently tucking a strand of his hair behind his ear. “What will they think of me?”

“They’ll think you look like a prince!” you chirped. “Come on, do me next!”

Memories of your childhood have become a blur, but you remember this very well. How comforting it felt to feel his fingers running through your hair, how he’d huff every time you cracked a joke. It was one of the last moments of peace you’d ever have.

The next time you saw him beneath that tree, blood was dripping off of his hands. He held on to the sword so tightly that his knuckles turned white and his shoulders were shaking as the rain poured and washed away his doing. You were watching him from behind the corner, a frown tugging at your lips before you dragged yourself away. You couldn’t bear to see him in such a sorry state, but a greater part of you was furious — furious that he cared more about honour and duty than his family.

And so, you left. With everyone you loved dead and gone, there was nothing left for you in Hanamura.

[pagetreader]

@honorhearted {x}

It had all begun as a civil meeting of diplomacy that had quickly turned into an ugly hostage scenario. Now her escorts and the ambassador were all dead and she was being used as a pawn in the desperate acts of unruly colonials.

A warm room with four walls and windows couldn't fool her. The 'accommodations' of her quarters may have been a comfortable prison, but a prison nonetheless.

While rebel soldiers littered Valley Forge, huddled and shivering until their digits froze off, Dae.nerys found she had little sympathy for them like she had when she'd visited her father's forces. The Royal Army fought for order, while the rebels were stubborn children attempting to wait out the weather in hopes their parent nation would cave first.

She scrutinized her betrothed intently, wondering what had led Washington to choose this man in particular. No doubt he was of high rank in his circle, trusted enough to carry out his duty. Whatever the case, he was her enemy. Everyone here was her enemy.

Having tired of gazing out the window, she sat in the corner of the room, defiantly refusing to eat what had been brought to her. It would only serve to make her feel sick anyway. More so than she already did.

"Forgive me, princess, but seeing how I, too, am being wrangled into this whole affair, I can't quite seem to muster the appropriate sympathies."

Major Tall.madge crossed the room and took her former place at the window, appearing to make an effort not to have to look in her direction. Clearly, he was just as disgusted with the matter as she was. At least that much they could agree on.

"Unfortunately, everyone will require proof of our consummation. What should've been a joyous, extraordinary moment in our lives is now tainted, public, and though neither of us can help whose families we were born into, it should come as no shock that I detest yours."

"Perhaps it could have been joyous and extraordinary for you once, but my fate has always entailed a political marriage," she answered plainly, seeing no use in arguing with a man who would shout black when she said white, "Think what you will of my family. I am not my father."

It didn't matter, of course. She had never been, nor would she ever be in any real position of power. It was only in name that she proved of any use to anyone -- and even then she was merely a pawn, nothing more. Evidently, he thought the same of himself.

"My friends, my brother all died fighting to be free of your father's t.yranny. If anyone in this room is a puppet, it is myself…I'm acting as the final s.acrifice to swing this w.ar in our favor."

"I cannot say what sort of men your friends were, nor your brother, but if you wish for change, why do you insist on campaigning for it by enacting such violence?"

Perhaps that was a ridiculous question, considering House Tar.garyen, who had ruled England for centuries, lived and died by the severity of their family's maxim: Fi.re and Bl.ood.

"You cannot rightly deny it. I've seen the tarring and beatings your men have inflicted upon those who are still loyal to the crown."

[sazz1981-blog]

Our Dirty Blood. Remus Lupin/Muggle Riddle Character

Bell Riddle inherits her grandparents house during the summer of 1994. One night after a usual day, she finds two strange men in her home with a horrific baby creature that the men call My Lord. It turns out this Lord needs her blood for some kind of ritual that will bring him back to life. How will she handle the truth that her long-lost uncle is an evil wizard? How will she handle it when she finds herself in a magic school under the protection of the Order of the Pheonix? How will she handle falling in love with a werewolf who has taken it upon himself to protect her?

Chapter 1: The Old House

The Riddle House stood tall and proud on the August night. As usual, the house was dim and hardly lit. The dark past of the house seemed to be a constant reminder to Bell Riddle.

Bell was the current owner of the large house, having inherited it from her father, whose name was Christopher Riddle, who had recently moved away. Her father’s parents, Tom Riddle and Cecilia Riddle, were killed only a few weeks after he was born. Along with his paternal grandparents, they all died in the very house Bell now occupied. Bell's father was found the next day unharmed in his cot, sleeping as if it were any other day, as if his family had not been killed. The cause of their deaths was always a mystery, but the police put it down to heart failure. Her father had ended up being taken in by a family friend and was raised with all the love a child needs. When he was around eighteen, he decided to visit The Riddle House, as he owned it after his parents’ deaths.

The house had basically remained untouched for those eighteen years, and when Bell's father went, he ended up finding multiple letters addressed to his father from a woman called Merope. In the letter, this Merope woman was begging Tom Riddle to take her back after she had found out that she was pregnant. The letters continued throughout Merope’s pregnancy when they stopped, and the final letter was from an orphanage called Wool’s Orphanage explaining that Merope had died while in childbirth and that her son was with them. Her father had spent years after finding the letters hunting down his long-lost older brother but to no avail. The Wool’s Orphanage had explained that the young boy had gone to go to a boarding school for gifting children when he was eleven. Bells Father went to nearly every boarding school in the country but could not find any traces of his brother. Eventually he gave up trying and moved to Edinburgh to pursue a career as a doctor. It was at his first job that he met Bell's mother, Nancy, and the two eventually married and had Bell in 1970.

In 1994, Bell's parents decided to move to Canada for a fresh start, while Bell chose to stay in England to start her new job as an English teacher. The job she got was in the same town as her father’s old house, so he suggested she stay there. Her father assured her that the caretaker, Frank, would look after her, and he did. He had helped her settle in her first week. Even though some parts of the house gave her the creeps, it started to grow on her. That was until one night after having dinner with Frank she was cleaning the plates by the window when a light was switched on from her house. There should not have been anyone in there.

“Frank, come look at this.’’ Bell said as she gestured for Frank to come over from the kettle.

When Frank approached, he frowned with an expression that could only be described as angry. Bell sensed that people trying to break into the big scary house was something that Frank had to deal with on a regular basis. A shiver ran down Bells spine at the thought of that.

“Damn kids, stay here; I will sort them out.'' Frank grumbled as he made his way to the front door. His old age was making him limp, and he seemed tired. Bell felt a heavy feeling of guilt at having an old man fight her battles.

“No, I will go. You can phone the police,’’ Bell had just started saying, but Frank had already closed the door on his way out. Bell watched from the window as Frank dragged himself up the hill to the house that Bell was still struggling to call home. She let out a worried puff of air as Frank entered the front entrance to the house. As the heavy door closed shut behind him, Bell made her to the phone to call for help. She didn’t want to get some silly kids in trouble, but she had to make sure that she and Frank were safe. Just as the ringing on the phone started, there was a bright green light that came from inside her house. It was quick and bright in Bell's eyes, and it made her drop the phone, causing the phone to break and the call to disconnect. Her first thought was that they had set off a bloody fire in her house. Her second thought was that if whoever was up there had hurt Frank, she was going to go mental.

Deciding not to be a coward, she made her way up the hill. The house was completely silent and dead again, completely still. Making sure the front door opened silently, she snuck her way in and shut the door behind her.

If she could get to her own phone, then she could call for help there. Still mindful not to make any sound, she made her way up the stairs to the living room that had the phone. Halfway up, she heard the voice of men she definitely did not know. The voices were too muffled to make out what they were saying, but their tones did not sound friendly at all. Freezing for a second, Bell took her moment to decide her next steps. She stared ahead at the portrait of her grandfather, who stared back at her with cold eyes. She took a small step back and cursed when the squeak of the floor echoed in the wide hall. The muffled voices stopped, and Bell was about to make a run for it when they started talking again. Her heartbeat quickened as she noticed that Frank had yet to show up.

Making the decision, she made her way further up the stairs until she could see the top of the floor, and her heart sank. At the top of the stairs just outside the living room, Frank lay on his back completely still. His eyes were open, but there was no light in them as they looked back at Bell. His chest was motionless. He was dead. His body left, disregarded by his killers, who shut the door of the livingroom. Abandoning Frank to the cold and dark hallway.

Part 2

https://archiveofourown.org/works/60373573/chapters/154097785#workskin

Notes: Thanks for reading.

[anchorandrope]

Source (web archive) | Article below the cut

LOTTIE TOMLINSON: After I lost my mum and then my little sister, I was so fearful of losing my life too, I couldn't leave the house...

Sometimes I gaze at my two‑year-old son with his big, blue eyes and soft, blond hair and one thought in particular overwhelms me.

Just how much my wonderful mum would have adored him. He's so amazing, so funny, so gorgeous and, knowing how much Mum loved babies and children – she was a midwife who had seven of her own – I just know she would have gone crazy for him. It's a realisation that stops me in my tracks every single time. Sadly, my mum, Johannah, never got to meet her first grandson.

She died in December 2016 from leukaemia when I was only 18. I lost the one person who loved me unconditionally and had always given me reassurance and support.

The hardest part of becoming a mother myself has been not having my own around to witness it. When things went wrong in labour, I cried out to Mum, asking her to help me. After my son was finally born, the pain of knowing she would never hold him brought fresh agony.

And whenever I hit challenges – such as breastfeeding struggles – I didn't want to ask anyone else for help. If I couldn't ask her, I told myself, I would just have to work it out for myself, which has obviously made life harder still. But I guess my stubbornness was yet another expression of my grief.

With this in mind, you might well wonder why I named my son Lucky. Particularly when I tell you that two years after my mum's death, my precious little sister, Fizz, also died, aged only 18, from an accidental drug overdose, having struggled to come to terms with Mum's death. It was a devastatingly shocking way to lose my best friend.

There's no denying that life has been incredibly hard on our family. But underneath it all I do feel lucky; as someone who is no stranger to tragedy, when good fortune does come I appreciate it even more. And I was overjoyed to be able to have a child with the man I love.

My partner, Lewis, and I decided our son's name halfway through the pregnancy after Lewis mentioned that he was working on a deal with a man whose business partner was named Lucky. I instantly loved it, without discovering until after his birth just how deeply connected to it I already was. Someone asked if I'd named my son Lucky because of Fizz. I had no idea that the Latin roots of her full name, Félicité (Felicitas), meant lucky. It felt profound.

This also reminded me of Mum's courageous spirit; she chose The Luckiest by Ben Folds to be played at her funeral, which said so much about her character.Even when Mum knew she was going to die, she still considered herself lucky to have had us all.

As a family, we have been dealt some dizzying highs as well as those crashing lows. My older brother Louis was in what was then the world's most famous boy band, One Direction, and his astronomic rise to stardom changed our fortunes for ever.

We grew up in Doncaster, in a three-bedroom house in a little place called Bessacarr. Mum had moved there with Louis as a single mum in the mid-1990s. My dad, who she fell in love with and married within the year, had been her next-door neighbour. Louis was nearly seven when I was born in 1998.

Fizz came along two years later, followed by our twin sisters, Phoebe and Daisy, in 2004. We girls shared a room, sleeping in two separate bunk beds. Life was hectic, but I loved it.

Mum was the centre of our world. Her career as a midwife was demanding, but she always had time for us; she had a solution for any problem we took to her.

Unsurprisingly, Louis spent his time singing and being musical. Fizz was smart, unique, outspoken and opinionated. She had the biggest heart, the kindest soul. The twins, who were identical, were a naughty double-act, tricking their teachers, who couldn't tell them apart.

Growing up, Dad had a drinking problem. When he was drunk, he'd argue with Mum and things felt chaotic. They divorced when I was 13. I'm proud to say Dad is now healthy and sober – after Mum died, he went to rehab and got himself clean. Despite my parents' split, we were a normal family until Louis went to an X Factor audition in 2010 when he was 18.

When Mum said he'd been put in a boy band we thought it was a joke. She sent us a picture of Louis, Harry Styles, Niall Horan, Zayn Malik and Liam Payne on a flight of steps at Simon Cowell's house. I was speechless. I never got used to coming home from school and seeing our front garden full of girls and journalists waiting for him.

About a year after my parents split, Mum met her second partner, Dan. We moved into a bigger home and they had another set of twins together, Doris and Ernie, born in 2014. I'd always loved babies, and was hands-on with my younger siblings.

I found school a struggle. I was anxious and shy and wasn't academic like Fizz. When I failed to get the grades to enter sixth form, Mum suggested I make a career of my love of beauty products. The year before, during the summer holidays, she had arranged for me to do work experience with One Direction's hair and make-up artist Lou Teasdale, at her London agency, The Book. Now she suggested I assist Lou on the One Direction tour.

What should have been a week's work experience in the US saw me staying for the rest of the world tour.

My career as an Instagram influencer was taking off as I began working with brands – later launching my own tanning brand Tanologist – and building a huge social media following. I grew in confidence, and returned home a mature young woman forging my own career.

In early 2016, I was still readjusting to being back in my old surroundings, catching up with old friends, when I received the terrible news that Mum, who was just 43, had been diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia, a severe form of blood and bone marrow cancer. Her partner Dan broke the news over the phone with Mum in the background. She couldn't bear to tell me herself.

t was hard accepting Mum's role within the family had suddenly and dramatically changed. She'd always been the centre of our world. She had all this strength and knew all the answers. Now, she was laid up in a hospital bed, helpless. Her situation was out of everyone's control.

From the start, Mum said we couldn't tell anyone, not even close friends. She was the sort of person who didn't want people feeling sorry for her. But I found it quite hard and lonely not being able to tell anyone close to me.

Watching Mum fade away was painful. When her doctors said there was nothing else they could do, I lay on the bathroom floor and sobbed, convinced I wouldn't survive losing her. For a while, she was allowed out of hospital for daily visits to Louis's house in London, and for my 18th birthday, she managed to organise a celebration for the entire family.

She hired a tepee for the garden and we had a buffet-style picnic. My birthday cake was decorated with all sorts of edible cosmetics such as lipsticks and eyeshadows. It was the last birthday I had with her, so the memory is bittersweet, but that was my mum all over, still making the effort to make us all feel special.

Mum passed away, eight months after her diagnosis, on December 7, 2016. Grief hit me in waves. I'd try not to let myself get upset or cry, then it'd all come out, in the most unbearable pain, and I'd sob uncontrollably.

I found purpose in helping my grandparents look after my younger siblings. Phoebe and Daisy were 12, and Doris and Ernie were just two.

But I couldn't believe I'd never be able to wake up in the morning, come downstairs and see my mum again; we'd never even speak on the phone again. It's those simple, normal moments that I still miss the most.

I'll never get over this, I thought. I'll never be able to live without my mum. But I knew I had to try. I moved to London, where life was all about working hard and partying harder. This was a release, and let me temporarily park my grief. But I didn't know anyone who'd experienced what I had, so I couldn't relate to people on a deeper level. Girls my age still had their mums, which felt emotionally isolating.

And I was worried about Fizz, who was at boarding school in London doing her A-levels.

We'd go out together and I noticed her taking things further than everyone else. It seemed like she'd gone from feeling numb over Mum's death to being hit by how overwhelming it all was. Now she was trying to get that numbness back via drugs and drinking.

Her boarding school would call saying she'd stayed out or missed curfew. She began distancing herself from the family, going missing for days, ignoring messages. Louis and I realised she was partying and taking drugs, doing anything she could to escape the pain of losing the only person who ever understood her. We showed her love and support, we got her professional help – but without Mum nothing ever felt enough.

I agonised over whether to go on my much-needed holiday to Bali, but in the end I thought we could be in this position for years; I couldn't never go away.

Three days into the trip, I heard that Fizz had gone missing. Her phone was off, she wasn't replying to text messages and I couldn't get hold of her friends. I felt panic-stricken. I was sitting on my hotel balcony when Louis called to say Fizz had died. I just remember screaming. Over and over again, I kept screaming: 'No, my baby sister, no.' The pain was all-consuming.

Losing Mum was terrible but, because she was ill with cancer, death always felt like a possibility. I never thought we would actually lose Fizz.

My anxiety went to a whole other level after that. Before, most of it was general worry. But now, I could be on the motorway, sitting in the passenger seat of a car, and suddenly be convinced we were going to crash and die. I'd walk into a shop and worry that someone was going to grab and kill me. Some days I wouldn't go out because I kept fixating on when the next bad thing would happen.

One day, I was in the car with Lou – she went from being my boss to becoming one of my closest friends – coming back from a work trip and we started talking about Fizz. I began screaming. In that moment it was the only way I knew how to communicate the pain, anger and sadness I was in.

'Why?' I kept screaming. 'Why?' I wanted to know why Fizz had been taken from us? Why Mum? Why me and my family? Why?

Lou suggested I go to therapy. Having someone to speak to, who had an unbiased opinion about everything, a place where I could dump what I needed to say and clear my mind, somehow lightened the load and made day-to-day life a bit easier.

I learnt that talking about grief is so important. During the pandemic, I wanted to help make grief less of a scary subject for other people and started working with the charity Sue Ryder, which offers bereavement support. Today, I'm a patron and help lobby Parliament for better access to bereavement counselling.

I met my fiance, Lewis, in 2020. Our connection was so strong and I quickly started trusting him in a way I'd never imagined possible. We'd only been together a few months when I became pregnant with Lucky. It was unplanned and I was scared. I was still only 23, focusing on my career and in a new relationship. But somehow being pregnant made me feel close to Mum; like I was stepping into her shoes by becoming a mother.

But I felt sad that she couldn't share this journey with me. I had questions I knew she'd have the answers to. Time and again I wanted to ask her: is this normal?

I was desperate to give birth naturally, but at 37 weeks the baby stopped moving as much and I had to be induced. Labour wouldn't start and after two days I was told that, if I wasn't dilating by morning, I'd need a C-section.

I was so upset. I went for a walk and I remember thinking, silly as it sounds, why hasn't Mum helped me with this? She'd know how much I'd want to give birth naturally. And then I said out loud to her: 'Can you please help me?' An hour later, my waters broke. Lucky was born the next day.

I experienced such intense emotions after giving birth. I felt scared that something was going to happen to my baby; just looking at him made me cry. I remember thinking: 'If anything ever happens to you, I'll never survive losing you.' After experiencing the worst things that could ever happen, twice, that fear felt very real.

But being someone else's everything, which I am to Lucky, is comforting. Becoming a mum has replaced something in my heart that I thought was lost for ever when Mum passed away.

Something about that bond has stepped in for the mother-daughter relationship I lost.

Before Lewis, I was cynical about being with someone for ever. I couldn't believe things could last. Mum had died. Fizz had died. And my parents' marriage hadn't worked out.

But when Lewis proposed to me last November, I could see the future spanning out in front of me and didn't hesitate to say yes.

My younger sister Phoebe's a mum now, too, to a little girl, Olive. Because I'd already had Lucky, I was able to fill the gap of Mum not being there and answer any questions she had. That would make Mum happy.

As a family, we all have an awareness of how short life can be, which makes us love so much harder. That's the positive that comes out of all this heartbreak. We were always close, but it's made us more protective of each other and so loving.

I miss Mum and Fizz so very much. Having experienced such deep sadness in my life, I've also found great joy. I'm getting married, I'm pregnant again – our second baby is due in January. I have a career I love, a beautiful relationship with Lewis and a strong family I can lean on.

So, you see, despite everything, I really am a lucky girl.

[rainbow-femme]

My grandma on my dads side and an aunt on my moms side both did a ton of family genealogy that I have access to and love going through. I mentioned it to a friend once and he immediately did the “yeah I don’t care about that stuff, I’m not defined by my ancestors I’m defined by me”

And I was just like?? I’m not saying I’m basing my personality on dead distant relatives, I’m saying I like history and there’s something very meaningful to me in learning about the lives of regular people that eventually lead to me existing

Like the guy who was a royal physician but ended up moving to Massachusetts for reasons we don’t know

Or the Union soldier whose letters to his wife we have and they’re very sweet as they clearly miss each other

Or the teenage girl who was sent from Ireland to live with family in the US because she got pregnant, and the assumption was she’d go back home after she had the baby, only she fell in love with an American and married him and he raised the baby as his

Or the woman who lived in Scotland for a time and Ireland for a time but openly and vehemently refused to say which she was born in, and no one knows why that was such an important secret for her because she also wouldn’t talk about anything that happened in either place

Or the man who worked as a chauffeur whose dying wish was to be buried in a suit, because he wore one every day for work but had never been able to own one himself. He also hated his brother in law, but when he died the family couldn’t afford to buy a suit just to bury him in and the brother in law was the only one who owned a suit so he gave it to the dead man who hated him to appease his last wish

Or my great great grandfather who worked on houses and was married to my great great grandmother who always wanted a nice wall papered kitchen, but they couldn’t afford it, so he would save scraps of wallpaper left over from jobs and use that, giving them a kitchen with a hundred different kinds of wallpaper

Or the fact that those two only got married because he was hitchhiking and her sister thought he was cute and let him stay the night in the couch, but he saw my great great grandma come down the stairs the next morning and fell for her and asked their father if he could work on their farm so he could court her

Or how that great great grandmother had 10 pregnancies and 10 healthy deliveries, the last at 48, and the family joke was you could drop her off the Empire State Building and she’d still carry a baby to term

Like those don’t matter because they have an impact on me personally, they matter because they were interesting real people who existed over centuries and they feel so much like normal people today, and there’s something really meaningful to me about seeing that human connection through time and still valuing the things that made them who they were

I mean, can you imagine writing to your wife from a war camp in the 1800s about how your chronic headaches are bothering you again so you’re going to play [I think something similar to soccer? He just called it ball idk] to forget about it and have that be something a descendant almost 200 years later reads who also gets chronic headaches and relates to you specifically through time? Or to have your quirks and idiosyncrasies be things your family still mentions and laughs about because you’re not just a name to them but still you?

I dunno, I just think there’s a difference between people defining themselves by ancestry and having a historical appreciation for people you were related to hundreds of years before, and enjoying all the parts of yourself you see in them. Even if it is chronic headaches because apparently it’s his fault we all get them

[cassiopeiagarcia]

She had opened her eyes after the meteorite impact a couple of days before meeting Alex… for the first time?

Seeing her brother and sister by the bed, Cass hadn’t thought anything at all. Just normal day, like any other, in which they had all stayed at Andro’s place (Hércules had roommates and Cass lived in a small studio apartment) and the middle García sibling had been the last to wake up.

Nothing out of the ordinary.

But, if that was the case, why were they crying?

They had explained. The day they had all met for coffee, a meteorite had struck Shibuya. Hundreds had died. But not them. However, while Andro and Hérc had been more or less okay, except for a few ugly bruises, three days in a comatose state and their heart stopping for a minute, Cass had all that plus a very disgusting-looking wound in her abdomen (something – she didn’t want to ask what but sharp and pointy – had ripped her skin undoubtedly leaving a nasty scar) a broken, purple, bloated lip (hey, at least I now don’t need plastic surgery! had been her way of making her parents feel better about it) and what most likely would end up being an addiction to morphine; the first days, they had her high most of the time. She didn’t quite know what they were giving her or why, but apparently she had required a few minor surgeries and…

It was during one of those days, that she had sneaked out of her hospital room. Cass had heard something outside: a conversation between her mother, María, and the doctor. They needed to perform a few blood tests, to check the levels of blahblahblah because it could be an indication of God knew what. And no. She refused. They had finally stopped giving her the medication intravenously, which meant: time for her escape plan.

Grabbing her mother’s fancy coat and hat, she had ran away of her room. She hadn’t thought much about it; she only knew that, for whatever reason, she wanted a pizza, sick to the core of hospital food, and to try and find a Halloween store, to check out some masks. The masks were really important, and apparently she had been telling absolutely everyone everything about them. In particular, she wanted a mask with six eyes, with a red sigil, with beautiful and intricate decorations of the same color. A mask that meant something, that symbolized some deity, but none of any religions she could think of.

Barefoot, she wandered around the hospital, tipping her hat to whoever she came across, like someone from the medieval ages. Sir, Ma’am. Cass was about to make a turn in some corridor when she came face to face with her doctor, a man in his 50s that went by the name of… actually, she didn’t remember. So she did what anybody else would.

She entered the patient’s room closer to her, pretending to be some visiting family member.

‘Hello, dear! How are you? Are you feeling better?’ She cheerfully and loudly asked the person laying down in the hospital bed, closing the door behind her quickly. ‘Ufff, that was close. So sorry to bother you but they want to take my blood and I think it belongs in my body!’

The person in question was a man, one who had the top half of his face, except for his eyes, covered in bandages. She could see nothing but his mouth, jaw and neck, but Cass found herself staring. There was something about him… ‘You are so handsome. Well, so handsome. Like don’t get me wrong, you probably are, I just can’t see you! But you feel so handsome. I just… woah. My name’s Cass. I was attacked by a meteorite. Not like personally. I just…’

‘Alex.’ He said, apparently not bothered at all by the fact that she wasn’t making any sense at all. He even was smiling in her direction and his voice sounded… relieved, maybe? Anyway, heavy with emotion. Alex, Alex, Alex.

Cass was about to say something else when the door opened again. She was expecting a nurse, maybe. She could deal with that, use her charms to drive them away. But nothing could have prepared her for coming face to face with Andro, whose arms were crossed above her chest and whose eyes were mostly white. She was rolling them towards the ceiling, as she took a deep breath.

‘Cass! You were supposed to get your medical tests done and…’

‘No, Androoooooooo. Andro, please, I don’t want to. I’m so tired, look at all the bruises in my arm from them poking me with needles. Like plim, plim, plim. No, pleeeeeeaaaaaase.’

‘Cass.’

Her sister’s tone admitted no reply. Cass sighed, finding herself absolutely defeated.

‘But I made a new friend?’ The tone was slightly interrogative, because they had after all exchanged literally a thousand words on Cass’ part and one on his, but one look at Alex and the blonde woman knew. They were friends. Or would be friends.

‘I’m so sorry she bothered you.’ Andro began. Her older sister was not speaking to Cass anymore, but to Alex, who had propped himself up on his elbows and shook his head.

‘She didn’t bother. At all.’

Again, that warmth. That feeling of acceptance, of belonging. Maybe she was still high, no, certainly, she was. But Cass had never felt this before, and she would fight for it. By pouting and pleading. ‘Please, I don’t want to go!?’

‘Cassiopeia, por favor…’

Uh oh. Andro using her full name meant trouble. With a defeated sigh, after a battle she would later remember as fierce and fiery, she waved Alex goodbye and blew him a kiss, before her sister took her back to her room, where an evil person would steal her precious blood.

───⋆☆─────────────

‘I know it’s unorthodox, a man and a woman sharing the same room, but she absolutely refuses to agree to any medical procedure unless she can be with you...’

The doctor was explaining as Cass walked in, carrying a couple of stuffed animals in her arms, running excitedly towards Alex with the brightest smile, one that made her whole face shine.

‘Hi! I convinced them to let us share a room if you wanted to. I guess you agreed because if not I wouldn’t be here. Cool, huh!?’ She exclaimed, standing beside his bed, smiling even more although it didn’t seem possible when she saw that he was happy about it, too.

She didn’t take as much pills now, her mind a lot less foggy, and would have apologize for her erratic behavior from last time, but when she tried to do it, he immediately cut her. There was nothing to apologize about.

That night, none of them got much sleep.

She sat at the foot of his bed, with her chin placed on top of her knees, her legs against her chest, her arms around them. Cass laughed more than she had in her entire lifetime as they shared anecdotes from their lives. Funny and happy ones, before switching to sadder ones, because they wanted to tell the other person absolutely everything. No secrets, not now, not ever. One in particular was harder than others, because it had marked a before and an after in Alex’s life: his parents falling into a coma after a car accident.

Cass had simply extended an arm, grabbed his hand. Held it hard as he told the story. And then, brought it to her lips, softly kissing his fingertips, sweetly.

His expression told her that she had done something right, something that had evoked deep feelings in him.

She had refused to go back to her cot. She hadn’t wanted to, and Alex didn’t seem like he wanted to let go of her, either. So she had simply laid beside him, until Sleep had taken both of them with Her to her realm, softly caressing his jaw, his neck.

Even if the doctor had scolded her the following morning, it had absolutely been worth it.

And she had kept doing it, night after night after night.

They could talk for hours, or stay in comfortable silence. Cass would paint him. Alex would sing to her. They would watch shitty movies on the TV in their room and she would let the doctors perform each and every test they wanted on her, as long as he was holding her hand.

When they had taken the bandages off of his face, she had been there, next to him, knowing that whatever he looked like wouldn’t change how she felt about him. Because Cass was in love, completely and absolutely, with every single part of Alex.

‘So, I was right the first night, you are devilishly handsome.’ She had declared, after he had stood still for a minute or two to let her examine his features, before finally closing the distance between them and kissing him.

───⋆☆─────────────

Cass was discharged before Alex. Weeks before.

But there was not a day she didn’t come visit after work, bringing food from the outside; bags full of takeaway, little snacks, things that he had mentioned he liked or things that she had commented about and wanted to share with him.

Between colorful wrappings of cookies and chocolate bars, more stolen kisses. Shy, at the beginning. Passionate, as time passed.

New lovers were supposed to be clumsy, but their bodies knew each other perfectly – from a previous life, maybe, their lips moving in perfect sync.

The doctors and nurses still got mad at her and her mischief; but they also just left them alone more times than not by that point, maybe slightly moved because out of the horrible natural disaster that had been the meteorite crashing in Japan, something as beautiful as their love story had been born.

It didn’t surprise anyone, when they made it official. When they started looking for a place for both of them, after merely months of dating. They were moving fast, yes, but why wait when they were made for each other?

This was Eden. Paradise. Mutual respect, acceptance and love. A sacred connection, and they were just pawns following one mandate: to be together.

In this universe. And all of them.

@j-ofspades

[loosesodamarble]

My beloved

Josele,

Though I know it's something I can never have, nor anything you should burden yourself with, I do love you. That very confession has been haunting me for years. Not for what it is, but who speaks it out. Because you deserve so much better than my wretched being, someone who is not tainted with the blood of their brother; someone whose hands are not tainted by the blood of any.

I know I have no right to love you. I never had that right. Never. Not even before you and my brother joined hands with the intention to wed. But even less after those, poisonous accusations I spoke to you in my own stead. For those words, I should have spoken out to myself. And yet I spoke them to you, the one I hold dearest. You're the one good thing in my life, even if I can only watch you from afar; these shadows that should encase me sooner.

I know I have no right to love you, and yet... here I am, loving you anyhow.

My only solace with this confession is that you'll never read these words. You'll never know of this confession. Because...

Because.

Though it hurts now, it would be worse, would I tell you. Your life was always meant to be one of light and laughter. And I know that it s dark now. But soon it shall be better. As one who resides in the shadows, I can promise you, that your soul is not meant for this life.

So, I love you, by doing the one good thing I still can do to you: let you go. This is how I love you, the only way in which I have the right to attempt to love you.

Though you shall never read these lines, I must ask for forgiveness. It is selfish of me to put them down onto paper, and not just swallow them as what they are.

I love you, Josele.

I wish you nothing but joy, smiles and laughter, after this darkness subsides. And it will subside, even if I'd have to pull it from you with my own, two, sinner's hands.

- With love, Nacht

Finding Words

Summary: The words that were never said are brought to Josele and she has her own words to say back. Genre: hurt/comfort (kind of but straightforward romance or angst didn't quite work) Word count: ~1300

..........

Josele read the letter once. Twice. Again and again, she took in the ink that curled into writing.

Each and every word was so gentle, she could feel it. She could hear the words being spoken by the man who wrote them. Though they were years old, by the way the paper had aged, the words were brand new to Josele.

Josele read the letter over and over. Until she was sure she had the words permanently imprinted into her mind and etched into her heart. The letter… It made her heart ache. But also dance. What a strange yet powerful sensation, one that Josele wanted to keep and treasure. Her vision began to blur from gathering tears. Josele pressed the paper to her chest before her tears could fall on it and stain the words thereon.

"Lady Josele! Has reading the letter upset you?" Gimodelo asked as he, and the rest of Nacht’s devils, floated around her shoulders.

“We’re sorry for making you cry!” Walgner squeaked.

“No, no.” She shook her head as she spoke. “I’m fine, you guys.”

Josele looked at the four devils. They watched her with worried faces. How kind they were despite the world they came from and the lives they lived.

“The letter is wonderful. Are there any more?” Josele asked softly. “Letters like this, I mean.”

Gimodelo, Plumede, Slotos, and Walgner shared looks between themselves before looking back at Josele. The feline devil floated forward.

“This was the only letter that the Master refused to send you,” she answered. “All others reached you without complication.”

Josele nodded.

Nacht’s letters from when he was acting as a spy in Spade. They came every now and again. They were barebone in content, describing how Nacht survived in Spade and searched for all the information that might be hidden there regarding devils and curses. Rarely did he ever write about his feelings. And if it ever did, it was to voice frustration at the dead ends he looked into or disgust at the way the Zogratis family treated the citizens.

But this letter. The one that Josele had never read before that day. It was so full of Nacht’s heart, full of his love. A love which was also weighed down by sorrow and guilt when he wrote it.

“All of you… Thank you.” Josele wiped her tears away. “For letting me have this.” She petted each devil on their small head. “I’m going to find Nacht now. I…” She took another look at the letter. “I ought to give him a reply.”

“We shall see you when that happens, then,” Slotos said with a nod.

The devils sank into Josele’s shadow, on their way back to the man they were contracted to.

Left on her own, Josele read the letter one last time.

Nacht had told her that he’d harbored affection for her since their youth. Explained to her that he didn’t feel worthy of her. Yet there was a greater sadness in the letter.

His proclamation that he intended to let her go. To let his love remain hidden away from her, forever unreciprocated. He would’ve resigned himself to watching her from afar if it meant protecting her from harm that he never intended to inflict, but harm that he believed would come about if he allowed himself to hold her close.

If Nacht had done that however, truly buried his feelings… Then Josele would never have been saved.

Her heart would’ve truly remained locked away. Possibly forever.

Josele tilted her head back and took deep breaths.

No. I can’t allow myself to think about that, she scolded herself. Because the life she lived in the present, with her heart once again connected to those she cherishes, was reality. I won’t consider what would’ve happened if Almatra had won.

After freeing her mind from such a heavy thought, Josele left her room.

As she walked, her mind swirled. She had said she’d give Nacht a reply. But what would she even say? She was never that good with speeches. And she didn’t want to give one to Nacht. She simply wanted to say something to answer his withheld confession.

Something to reassure him that his feelings then, and his feelings now, were alright. More than alright really.

But what to say exactly?

“I always loved you”? No, he already knew that. “Don’t be sorry for loving me”? That felt too selfish to say. “You were never in the wrong”? Also not a good idea; though she’d long since forgiven Nacht, his accusation had still hurt. The distance of their hearts had hurt.

Josele stopped in front of a door. Nacht, having become more adjusted to his role as vice captain, was frequently holed away in his office, tending to matters that Yami was too busy—or more often too lazy—to see to himself. She knocked on the door and Nacht’s voice answered her, “Come in.” She stepped in and closed the door behind her. Although the Bulls rarely came to bother Nacht when he was at his desk, she wanted as much privacy for herself and him as could be afforded.

“What brings you to my office today?” Nacht asked. “Official business or were you missing me?”

Their eyes met across the distance between the door and his desk. It was only a few steps but even a few months ago, that small gap would’ve felt like a chasm. But now, Josele could cross the distance with ease.

And so she did.

“What if I thought you might be missing me?” Josele asked back with a teasing grin. She stopped in front of Nacht’s desk. “But actually, I came for something else.”

Josele held out the letter, which she had held behind her back up until that point.

Nacht’s eyes stared at the sheet of paper in confusion before recognition dawned on his face. Recognition and fear.

“Where did you—?”

“The devils gave it to me.”

Nacht’s body tensed and his head turned to the side.

“You… were never meant to see that.”

“I knew that. You said so yourself in the letter.”

Josele glanced down at the letter. But her eyes quickly returned to Nacht. His face had gone pale. Like he’d seen a ghost. Or like he’d become one.

“Nacht.” Josele reached out and placed her hand on his. “Look at me, honey… Please?”

Hesitantly, Nacht raised his eyes. No tears. But the way he seemed ready to look away again… How his lips were pressed together in a thin line… The sound of his heartbeat weakening…

“Thank you for writing the letter,” Josele whispered.

At first, the words felt clumsy, almost silly, as they spilled past her lips. But seeing Nacht’s eyes widen and his shoulders relax at them, she knew they were right.

Josele stroked the back of Nacht’s hand and went on, “Even if you never meant to send it, I have it now. It’s written so beautifully. And so… I’m going to cherish it. Is that alright?”

Nacht’s lips parted, a breath taken in.

“… Why?”

“To remind me of how much you love me.” Josele grinned at Nacht. “You were so far away and yet you didn’t stop thinking of me…”

“I went so far for your sake after all,” Nacht muttered. He turned his hand beneath Josele’s so he could hold it.

“Thank you. Again.” Josele leaned over and pressed her lips to Nacht’s. It was a brief kiss. But sweet. Oh so sweet. She pulled away, but only enough so she could see all of Nacht’s handsomeness. “Because of you, the joy and smiles you wished for me are now in reach.”

“You’re welcome,” Nacht said, smiling.

“Nacht, my shadow prince…”

“I love you, Josele,” Nacht whispered, beating Josele to the words on the tip of her tongue.

Josele’s face warmed up. To hear the proclamation so plainly from Nacht made her heart skip.

“I love you too, Nacht,” she whispered back.

She hoped such words of affection would continue to be said so easily.